Change In The Weather At Khq-6
Dark skies are in the forecast for Tim Adams, the main weathercaster at KHQ-6.
His contract with the station will not be renewed when it runs out at the end of June. Adams said he thinks the station may be looking for someone with “more zing.”
Maybe he lacks zing, whatever that is, but he is one of the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic of TV weather forecasters. Adams had a long career with KXLY-4 before joining KHQ three years ago.
His fans will be disappointed, but Adams, characteristically, is cheerful about it. He has no hard feelings toward KHQ management; he says they have “been just great about it.”
Anybody who knows Adams, 47, knows that he can find the silver lining in any thundercloud.
“I’ve had three years here on the first team,” said Adams. “That’s not so bad. The overall picture here is that weather people generally have a two- or three-year stay here.”
Adams said he has known since February that his contract would not be renewed. There is a chance that he can do fill-in weathercasting on weekends, for KHQ or some other station. But he is still weighing his options.
An avid pilot, he has toyed with the idea of starting an aerial traffic reporting service for local radio or TV stations.
Adams certainly doesn’t want to leave the Spokane area. A native of North Idaho, he said it would “be hard to bring myself to leave.”
Sic ‘em, Mike
The Richard Clear-Norm Rice controversy has been a hot topic on talk radio this week. The most entertaining exchange by far came when KGA-AM’s Clear called KXLY-AM’s Mike Fitzsimmons on Thursday morning to complain about his treatment.
Fitzsimmons gave Clear a taste of his own medicine. Fitzsimmons hooted at Clear’s self-justifications, talked right over him and called him “a demagogue and a self-aggrandizing publicity hound.”
Fitzsimmons also said that Clear engaged in “pure rumor-mongering for the purpose of entertainment and I think it takes talk radio to a low, Richard.”
And finally, Fitzsimmons cut Clear off in mid-sentence with a curt, “Thanks for your call.”
Safranek’s art
Doug Safranek, a 1975 Lewis and Clark High School graduate, has forged quite an art career in New York.
Safranek, who studied under Scott Patnode at Gonzaga University, is well known for his realistic egg-tempera cityscapes, mostly depicting the area around his Brooklyn neighborhood. His fascination with these intensely urban scenes stems partly from the contrast with his Spokane upbringing.
“When I first moved to Brooklyn (12 years ago), it came as somewhat of a shock,” said Safranek, in Spokane visiting his parents last week. “Life was so drastically different.”
Since then, he has had three solo shows in New York, and one of his paintings is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Inlander, Inlander
Normally, I try to be tolerant, like a doting uncle, about The Inlander.
However, the Buzz Bin was just a bit too gleeful on Wednesday in reporting that the local media had been “scooped” last week by a wire reporter in Boston about a possible AIDS breakthrough right here at the University of Washington’s Regional Primate Center in Medical Lake.
“In the old days, it was an embarrassment to get scooped … and by a reporter 3,000 miles away?!” said the Buzz Bin. “Oh yeah, The Inlander broke the story back in February.”
Well, oh yeah, I looked it up and found that Bonnie Harris of The Spokesman-Review already did that “AIDS breakthrough” story, and so did local TV. And, oh yeah, it was back in November ‘95.
, DataTimes MEMO: To leave a message on Jim Kershner’s voice-mail, call 459-5493. Or send e-mail to jimk@spokesman.com, or regular mail to Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.